Laws of expression or silence?
The Government of Karnataka has proposed a Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Act, which will crack down on digital content, making punishable by law, posts that are deemed offensive. What constitutes offense is a varied and possibly contradictory mix: anti-feminist, disrespectful of Sanatan symbols, obscene, promotes superstition and abusive are among the phrases listed in coverage of the proposed Act, which has been in the works for two years. Should it be passed, those found guilty will face jail terms of up to seven years and fines of up to `10 lakh. A major red flag in the proposed Karnataka Misinformation and Fake News (Prohibition) Act is the inclusion of the term anti-feminist. What does misogyny really mean in the context of protecting organised religion? The possibilities for interpretation are very broad. Would, say, an action like a public figure choosing to wear Western attire to her own wedding be deliberately read as an insult to womanly values as per the establishment? Similar to how decolonising has been widely appropriated by right-wing Indians, misused as a concept to bring back extremely regressive and discriminatory worldviews, feminism too is being forced into the fold in myriad ways. Symbolism is key: it is done, for example, through the valorisation of women who are deemed ideal through certain socio-cultural parameters, who have a strong nationalist bent. The day is not far away when those who do not toe this line will be considered anti-feminist, with feminism itself having been largely co-opted. Even without the inclusion of the term anti-feminist, however, any such law can be and historically has been used to suppress freedom of expression, critical thinking and dissent. While this Act indicates that opinions, parody and the like are excluded from its purview, in application, the potential for overreach is vast due to vague terminology. The Internet Freedom Foundation, an Indian non-profit, has publicly requested that the Karnataka government reconsider it in this light. Digital misinformation is a huge problem in India, but the introduction of curbs like these are in themselves a distortion of why this problem took root in the first place. The notorious IT cells of political parties, with their infiltration both of social media platforms and of daily life through WhatsApp forwards and such, are where any eradication of offensive and inaccurate information must begin. Instead, an Act like this appears primarily designed to target individual citizens and alternate or agnostic press platforms. It will be used against people whose stated sentiments oppose the sentiments of the state. It will also be used by ordinary citizens with ideological proximity to power in order to oppress people who do not have the same. Laws that prohibit freedom of expression are draconian, especially considering that freedom of expression is inadequately protected to begin with. India has an abysmal ranking on the World Press Freedom Index (159 out of 190 countries as of 2024). Targeting digital misinformation must necessarily go hand-in-hand with institutional and civic support for an unmuzzled media, with a more diverse range of platforms, and for creating more democratic and less violent online portals. Otherwise, such Acts will do little but stifle opposition.
Sight on Victory, documentary on blind Indian womens cricket team to be screened
The very first time that T20 cricket was included in The International Blind Sports Federation (IBSA) World Games in 2023, the newly-formed Indian womens team took the field by storm. Winning every match in the league stage, the women in blue defeated Australia by nine wickets. When we won, I had no words. I was so proud that I was representing India as children, we would look at cricketers and wonder when it would be us, remembers Deepika TC, a player from Karnataka. Now, a documentary film Dekh Le India by directors Shanthi Mohan and Mukund Moorthy, taking us through these extraordinary womens journeys, will be screened at Samarthanam Art Centre, HSR Layout, on Friday. Deepika TC, cricketer As Mohan notes, mainstream audiences are largely unaware of blind sports part of the reason they chose this subject. Women in general find it tough to make their mark and here, we have girls who are not only blind but come from tough socio-economic backgrounds who are trying to play cricket. [It is] a popular sport in India, but hardly anyone knows about blind cricket. Varsha U, another Karnataka player lead the team as the captain. With players from all over India, Varsha recalls cultural barriers as a crucial challenge to overcome. She says, Initially, the language and culture were so different that we didnt understand each other. In the first bilateral series with Nepal, coordination was a problem and we lost the game. But we slowly grew close and learnt to understand each other. Still from the documentary Dont need pity or sympathy, just an opportunity The film, which begins at this tense moment of loss, gives an inside look into the teams dynamics as they figure out how to work together. After they lose to India, they regroup and discover the reasons they are struggling. In between this and their final win, we also cover the girls backstories one is from a tribal village from Odisha, one from Andhra, another from a family of fishermen. Boys dont come out of these villages, but these girls have, despite being blind, explains Moorthy, adding, I found it inspiring that in our interview, they all said, We dont need pity or sympathy just give us an opportunity. Both Varsha and Deepika were unaware of blind crickets intricacies until they came across selection games at the district level. As a child, I was interested in all sports. Around Class 8 or 9, my sight worsened and exam pressure increased so I stopped playing cricket. In PU, I came across the district-level cricket selection camp there was no national or Karnataka team for women back then seeing how cricket was being played there made me so happy, recalls Varsha. Since the world games, while Varsha working and taking a break from cricket, Deepika has become the captain of the Karnataka team. She is currently training for the first womens cricket world cup for the blind, set to start this November. She says shes been training differently, Back then, I was a bit lazy (laughs) but with the world cup coming up, I start net practice at 4am, then the gym at 9am, and back to the ground at 4pm! Match point Cricket for the blind includes a lot of different accommodations like a ball containing bells to make the game playable to those who are completely blind (B1 players), partially blind (B2 players) and partially sighted (B3 players). After the ball has been pitched, we hear it rolling towards us, sense whether it is coming from the off-side, leg side or the centre and hit it in a fraction of a second. There is a high chance of dot balls in B1 so our whole attention is on the sound of the ball, Varsha, a B1 player, explains.
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